problems and challenges faced by the...

Problems and Challenges Faced by the Emigrant Workers in the Middle East

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PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES FACED BY THE EMIGRANT

WORKERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

The present chapter in continuation with the previous one, deals with the problems

and challenges faced by the socially excluded emigrants in the Middle East countries

particularly in the Gulf region. The Indian workers in the Gulf constitute about 5

million of the estimated 25 million of the total Indian Diaspora. According to the

Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs government of India, majority of them are in

UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The temporary workers' community in the Gulf

countries mainly comprises of people from all Indian states, particularly from Kerala

and Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh etc. (MOIA, 2008).

Large numbers of them who have emigrated to Gulf countries have suffered untold

miseries. Hundreds of Gulf sufferers who got cheated either in the hands of travel

agents or by the employers in the Gulf or by the natives of host countries, have

returned back to their motherlands. Thus there is a need to identify and address the

problems of Gulf sufferers particular the problems related to their human and civil

rights.

The Indian emigration to the Middle East is a topic which has received the

attention of economists, sociologists and demographers from the last few decades.

Most of the studies (Prakash, 1978, Mathew and Nair, 1978, Kurien, 1979,

Radhakrishnan and Ibrahim, 1981) dealt mainly with the profiles and socio-

economic backgrounds of emigration, processes of emigration, economic and social

impacts of remittances and issues and problems of return emigrants from the

southern state Kerala and some of them studied the impact of Gulf migration on

society especially the impact of male emigration on women and family from Kerala

(Gulati, 1983, 1987, 1993, Sekhar, 1993) and (Bahdwar, 2011) from Punjab. The

economic impacts of Gulf emigration on the country of origin country have been

studied by some of the economists and demographers from Kerala (Nair, 1989,

Thomas, 1993, Prakash, 1998a, 1998b, Zachariah, Mathew and Rajan, 2001). All

these studies have neglected two aspects of Gulf emigration. First, these studies have

only focused on the emigration from one state that is Kerala, the largest supplier of

workers to the Middle East from India and attention has not been given to the other

states of the country. Secondly, although these studies provide rich information


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about the issues of emigration from India to the Gulf countries, particularly from

Kerala based on primary information collected from emigrant households, but we

do not have much information about the labour market situation, the employment,

wages, working conditions of emigrants, and their various problems and hardships

which emigrants face in the Middle East countries. This is the context in which the

present chapter has been planned in this study.

To understand the problems of the emigrant workers, the present chapter has

been divided into two parts. The first part deals with the problems of illegal or

irregular workers working in the Middle East. Whereas the second highlights the

problems and hardships of regular workers. The division of this chapter into two

parts have been done because the problems and working condition of illegal and

legal workers are different from each other.

5.1 Irregular Workers in the Middle East

Let us start with the first category of the illegal workers. According to Birks

and Sinclair (1999), one of the highest concentrations of foreign labour in the world

can be found in the six Gulf States, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi

Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). With only 0.4 per cent of the world

population they host 13 per cent of the world wide labour migrant population. In

1990, the number of the emigrant workers in the six countries accounted for about

7.8 million people out of a total population of 19 million (Evans and Papps, 1999).

A large number of illegal workers also resides in the Gulf countries.

A large number of scholars have defined the illegal workers. The ILO (1999)

has defined illegal worker as a person who has not been granted an authorization of

the state on whose territory he or she is present that is required by law in respect of

entry, stay or employment, or who has failed to comply with the conditions to

which his or her entry, stay or employment is subject. According to Shah (2009),

“the term, ‘irregular migration’ is preferable to terms such as ‘illegal’ migration and

‘undocumented’ migration. Several terms are currently used in the literature to refer

to the status of emigrants who enter countries on an irregular or unlawful basis:

illegal, clandestine, undocumented or irregular. She coated the wordings of Elie

Wiesel, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who once stated that a human being cannot

be illegal. The term ‘illegal’ is a negative term, which ignores the contributions

made by the emigrant workers to the host economy. It seems to put the blame


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squarely on the emigrant worker forgetting illegal roles of others, whereas in a

number of cases, the migrant may simply be a victim only forced into an irregular

situation by traffickers and recruitment agents. Behind so-called illegal emigrant

workers, there are always illegal local employers and/or intermediaries. A preferred

term, which can accommodate various diverse situations, is ‘irregular migration’.

On the other hand, Gosh (1998) believed that in the discussion on irregular

migrants, it is important to note that a person is not simply being irregular by the

very act of being. Rather a person is made illegal by altering laws and regulations of

the country of origin and destination. In regions where there is no legal restriction on

the movement of people, the issue of irregular migration barely comes up.

According to Gosh (1998) irregular emigrants can be distinguished along

two categories. First, poverty, unemployment and economic hardship serve as the

principal push factors for survival migration. Second, lack of opportunities to

enhance economic welfare is a pull factor for opportunity-seeking migration. The

distinction of irregular emigrants into two categories is an important analytical tool

to directly focus on the different circumstances and motivations that cause these two

types of movements. He further states that opportunity-seeking migrants are more

cautious about potential risks and rewards of irregular migration, and are more

willing to stay in the country of origin if the risk and punishment of migrating is too

high. Survival migrants, however, are more driven by economic despair and risks of

punishment and discomfort are less likely to keep them from moving. Furthermore,

they are more likely to accept almost any job in the destination country.

It is, therefore, not surprising that most of the irregular survival migrants can

be found in low skilled, low wage jobs. Poverty and unemployment are generally

more important causes for irregular emigration instead of the search for better

opportunities. There may also be a mismatch between the level of labour demand

and the opportunities offered by the receiving country for legal entry. According to

Gosh (1998) it is almost impossible to restrain migrants to come if there is a

significant demand for labour unless the punishment for illegal entry and the

employer sanction are exceptionally high. This mismatch can be called the demand-

pull in destination countries.

The Illegal workers run the risk of unfair exploitation and human rights

violations. Since their employment is illegal, neither they nor their employers notify


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the authorities that they are working. This means that it is virtually impossible to

keep track of them, or afford them any protection. Moreover, many of these illegal

workers are at the mercy of underground brokers who find them jobs and dictate

their terms of employment. This leaves them exposed to a variety of potential

abuses, including restrictions of their freedom of movement, violation of their

contracts, and embezzlement of their wages etc. These workers are vulnerable

because of their illegal status, and their ability to make complaints about unfair

treatment is further limited by their lack of knowledge about their host country and

their inability to speak the local language (International Labour Organization, 2002)

According to Kapiszewski (2001) the Middle Eastern countries use this term

illegal immigrants for different kinds of workers. They use the term for over-stayers

on a tourist visa and engaged in work, students engaged in employment, trainees

overstaying their visas, regular migrants continuing beyond the contract period,

especially regular migrants running away from their designated employer before

expiry of contract. Three categories of the illegal emigrants exist in the Middle East.

The first category contains people who were illegally smuggled into the country, for

example, in UAE most of the illegal entries take place in the remote mountain region

of the east coast of the country where people arrive by boat from Iran, Pakistan or

India and disembark at night. From there, those people find their way with the help

of the people of their own nationality, but even from the nationals to some remote

farms or the cities on the west coast of the country where most of the work can be

found. The UAE government undertook steps to curb these kinds of entries by

issuing a decree in the mid-1990s that ordered all owners of fishing boats to be

nationals (Kapiszewski, 2001). The second, category contains of people who entered

the country on false passports or documents. This could be someone else’s passport

or a new faked one. Indian illegal emigrants in the Middle East are rarely come

under these two categories. The third and last category of irregular emigrants is of

those emigrants who have overstayed their visa for different reasons (Shah, 2009)

During the fieldwork it has been observed that there are eight reasons by

which Punjabi workers became illegal in the host countries of the Middle East. First,

they overstayed their original visa term and have been unable to extend it or renew

it. Second, emigrant entered the country on a visitor or tourist visa and started

working without proper documents or getting work permit. Third, they changed


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employer without proper authorization or resigned from the job (changing

employment without consent of original sponsor and the authorities is illegal).

Fourth, they were unable to regulate their status or simply leave the country since

their employers did not give back their passports. It is common practice in many

Middle East countries that employers confiscate the worker’s passport for as long as

the worker stays in the county. Without passport and the approval of their sponsor,

emigrants cannot obtain the exit visa to leave the country. Fifth, they finished their

contracts but were unable to leave the country as their employers did not provide

them with the return ticket which they were unable to buy themselves. Sixth, they

left their sponsors when they were not paid the salaries or delay in getting salaries or

when they were forced to work for longer hours than the labour law allows. Seven,

they changed their place of work as a result of the actions of their sponsors who,

facing economic difficulties, instead of repatriating their employees, forced them to

look for another job (both to avoid paying the cost of a worker returning home and

also because they were unable to legalize the transfer of their sponsorships). Eight,

some more ambitious emigrants leave their companies because they can earn more

outside than they earn in the company.

In the present study the term irregular workers has been used for two types of

emigrants. First, who have overstayed their visa for different reasons, they have

come legally in the host country through work contract but due to different reasons

they have to leave their company and have to work illegally in the Middle East.

Second, who entered the country on visit or tourist visa and started working without

proper documents or getting work permit. A large proportion of all irregular

emigrants in the GCC countries belong to the first category (Shah, 2009)

5.2 Estimated Number of Irregular Emigrants in the GCC

No firm estimate of the total number of irregular emigrants in the GCC

countries is available. Reliable public use data on the numbers of irregular emigrants

are almost nonexistent. No routine publication is available within the sending or

receiving countries on the extent of the problem. Kapiszewski (2001) contends that

irregular emigration has constituted a substantial proportion of all labour movements

to the Gulf countries since the beginning of the oil era. He estimates that in recent

years, illegal immigrants in each GCC country made up at least 10 per cent of the

total population or 15 per cent of the workforce. Based largely on newspaper reports,


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he estimated the number of irregular emigrants during the late 1990s in all the GCC

countries, and found the highest number to be in Saudi Arabia i.e. 7,00,000 (See

Table 5.1). During the initial phase, the GCC countries did not take much action to

curb irregular migration even though the rulers were aware of the practice and

probably of the scale, perhaps because they needed large numbers of workers for

their development. Thus, the presence of irregular workers was tolerated since it was

beneficial for the economy and was very profitable for employers and middlemen

(Kapiszewski, 2001). Beginning in the mid-1990s, however, several concrete steps

at reducing the number of non-nationals were taken, including serious attempts to

curb the irregular entry and stay (Shah, 2009). According to a representative of the

Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in India, it was recently reported that the Gulf

States deported 81,000 Indians in 2007, about half of them were deported from the

UAE and Saudi Arabia while 8,234 from Kuwait (ibid). The government of UAE

announced a general amnesty scheme for three months June to September 2007

which were later extended up to November 2, 2007 calling all the persons who are

staying illegally in the UAE either to leave the country or amend their status, if they

wished to continue to work in UAE. About 70,000 Indian workers who were staying

illegally benefited from the amnesty have either left the country or legalized their

status with proper documents (MOIA, 2007-08). In Bahrain, it is estimated that

despit the government’s action towards regularizing the migrant workforce, about

60,000 unauthorized migrant workers were still present in the country in April 2008

(ibid).

Table 5.1

Year wise Estimate of Irregular Emigrants in GCC Countries

Country Year Estimated irregular Emigrants

Bahrain 1997 8,300

Kuwait 1979/80, 1997 (a) 100,000. 15, 000 (a)

Oman 1998 40,000

Qatar (b) 1997 – 98 100,000

Saudi Arabia 1997 700,000

UAE Early 1990 300,000

Source: Shah (2009) Note: (a) Illegally employed Filipino housemaids.


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5.3 Reasons for Irregular Status

As it has been mentioned earlier, in the Middle East there are various

categories of irregular workers who have violated the rules of the host governments

and working illegally. But in the present study Punjabi workers who were working

illegally in the host countries and about whom information has been provided by the

other respondents were illegal because of one reason that is they overstayed their

visa for different reasons and left their companies and camps and started working

illegally without informing the authorities and without the consent of their

employers. They have neither use any illegal means for emigration nor smuggled

through any illegal way. They had emigrated legally by getting work permit and

from the host government or sponsorship from the employers. But when they

returned back they were illegal and blacklisted by the host governments for further

re-emigration to any of the member country of GCC.

In this study among 300 respondents only 34 (11.33 per cent) were working

illegally in the Middle East countries. Therefore for proper authenticate information

additional information about working conditions, exploitation of irregular workers

has been collecting from the regular emigrants.

Now a question would come in the mind of the reader of this chapter that if

an emigrant emigrated as a regular worker why he became irregular. A number of

reasons are responsible for this change. Table 5.2 highlights the reasons of the

irregular status of Punjabi emigrants working in the Middle East. The majority of the

respondents (66.33 per cent) reported that workers leave their companies because

their companies do not pay their salaries or generally they are low paid and

sometimes leave the company because of poor accommodation and poor quality of

mess food. Some emigrants who were working illegally in the Middle East reported

that the travel agents promised jobs, good accommodation facilities and handsome

salaries to them before their emigration but when they reached in the Middle East

they were offered poor salaries and with poor accommodation facilities in the labour

camps. They have paid significant sums of money for working visas or work

contracts. However, by the time of arrival in the Gulf States these promises proved

to be false, and the often deeply indebted Punjabi emigrants have no other option

than to leave the company or work for local sponsors under often highly exploitative

conditions. They had to sign a contract often in Arabic or English languages that


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they could not understand. Gardner (2011) also found that “many emigrants reported

that they arrived in the Gulf and discovered that they will be required to work a job

different from the one they were contractually promised in the sending country: men

who were promised jobs as supervisors, for example, find themselves working as

supervised “tea boys”, or men who were promised jobs as drivers are sent to work

on a construction site”.

Table 5.2

Respondent’s Views Regarding Why People Work Illegally in the Middle East

Figures in parentheses are column wise percentage

Reasons for

Irregular status in

the Middle East

S.B.S Nagar Jalandhar Kapurthala Hoshiarpur Total

Company does not pay good salary

23 (30.66) 27 (36) 31 (41.33) 27 (36) 108 (36)

Low salary and poor accommodation and poor quality of food

24 (32) 22 (29.33) 21 (28) 33 (44) 100 (33.33)

Work without salary 03 (4) 02 (2.66) 03 (4) 01 (1.33) 09 (9)

The companies do not give overtime or pay money for overtime

06 (8) 09 (12) 01 (1.33) 00 (00) 16 (5.33)

Failed to renew work permit

02 (2.66) 00 (00) 00 (00) 00 (00) 02 (0.66)

Working under contractors

10 (13.33) 06 (8) 05 (6.66) 04 (5.33) 25 (8.33)

Good income outside the company

02 (2.66) 02 (2.66) 02 (2.66) 00 (00) 06 (2)

If condition of work permit are different then actual

05 (6.66) 07 (9.33) 06 (8) 05 (6.66) 23 (7.66)

If there is no work in the company

00 (00) 00 (00) 04 (5.33) 01 (1.33) 05 (1.66)

If workers are medically unfit and cannot get work permit they start working illegally

00(00) 00 (00) 02 (2.66) 04 (5.33) 06 (2)

Total 75 (100) 75(100) 75 (100) 75 (100) 300 (100)


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5.4 Rights and Benefits of Irregular workers: A Threat to Human Rights

The irregular workers face a number of problems in the all the Middle

Eastern countries. They are living in abusive working conditions, paid low salaries,

no medical facilities etc. A large number of them are forced to live in the semi-slave

conditions (Jain, 2005). According to the Human Rights Watch (2003) there are

cases where exit visas were arbitrarily withheld which place the migrant in a

situation of forced labour. In all of the GCC countries they do not have any social

and human rights which is the main cause of their slavery conditions.

The International Labour Migration Survey (2003) has given country wise

details of the rights and benefits of regular and irregular workers in six Gulf

countries of the Middle East which are expressed through the different policies and

laws of these countries. Table 5.3 shows that irregular workers in almost all the

GCC countries do not have civil and human rights. Their condition is worse in the

four countries namely Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and in Saudi Arabia. On the other hand

UAE and Bahrain have some soft corners for the irregular emigrants.

There are lots of differences between the rights and benefits enjoyed by the

nationals, regular emigrants and irregular emigrants. Table 5.3 shows the difference

as the first, the irregular workers are not allowed to start or join trade unions, as

trade unions generally do not exist in those countries. Secondly, they are not allowed

to bargain collectively for their salaries and working conditions. Thirdly, they cannot

even appeal against the forced labour if they appeal they will be deported

immediately to their home countries. Fourth, they have neither protection against

discrimination at work nor equal treatment with nationals or other emigrants in

respect of wage and minimum wage. Sixth, the most harassing rule against them is,

they do not have any right for protection against sexual, racial and ethnic

harassment. Seventh, they also have no legal access to housing, social benefits or

medical care, they also do not have an adequate prevention of occupational accidents

or diseases. Eight, residences without a job is in general not allowed and the right to

family reunification is not recognized. Lastly, they also do not have access to legal

proceedings in a language they understand.


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Table 5.3

Rights and Benefits of Irregular Workers in Six Gulf Countries of the Middle East

Rights and Benefits to

Irregular /illegal

workers

Bahrain

Kuwait Qatar Oman Saudi

Arabia

U.A.E

Form or join a worker’s organization

No No No No Illeg

al residen

ce is a vio

lation

of reg

ulatio

ns

No

Bargain collectively No No No No Yes

Protection against forced labour

No No No No Yes

Protection against discrimination at work

No No No No Yes

Minimum age of employment

No No No No Yes

Equal treatment with nationals in respect of wage

Yes No No No No

Equal treatment with nationals workers in respect of minimum wage

Yes No No No No

Join a social protection scheme

No No No No Yes

Protection against sexual harassment

Yes No No No Yes

Protection against racial and ethnic harassment

Yes No No No Yes

Access to training No No No No No

Access free public Medical/ health services

Yes No No No Yes

Free housing (e.g. for agriculture workers )

No No No No No

Accompanied by family members

No No No No No

Vote in local/ national election

No No No No No

Access to legal proceedings in a language they understand

Yes No No No Yes

Adequate prevention of occupational accidents or diseases

No No No No No

Source: Table compiled from the “International Labour Migration Survey 2003: country summary” by ILO, Geneva.


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Hari Ram 29 year old resident of village Slaimpur, district Kapurthla, he is

Valmiki by caste and belongs to a poor family and his father is a daily wage earner

and alcoholic. In his family he is the only son and has three elder sisters. He was not

interested in the study, as he dropped out of school after lower primary stage. He

learned so many skills like welding, painting, tailoring etc in 1999 large number of

his people from his village including some of his friends emigrated to the Gulf

countries. Hari also wanted to emigrate but since he was their only son, his parents

tried to discourage him. He was always worried about his three unmarried sisters.

His earning was not sufficient to meet the needs of his family and marriage of his

sisters. So ultimately he decided to emigrate. He borrowed Rs. 1, 50,000 from a

money lender by pledging his home to the money lender. He obtained visa for Oman

on payment of Rs. 90,000 to an unlicensed agent. For his travel and related expenses

he spent another Rs.15, 000 rupees. He went to Delhi by bus and from Delhi to

Oman by air. On landing in Oman he contacted an Arab under whom he was

supposed to work. There were twenty other emigrants with him who had come under

the same group visa.

All twenty one were taken by the Arab to his work site and they were

accommodated there. The Arab asked them to wait for three weeks after which the

group was put to different tasks like mason helper, plumber, painter etc. He was

promised for a fixed salary equivalent to Rs.17, 000 per month. But he was paid

only 8,000 rupees per month in irregular instalments. Hari used to send about 80 per

cent of his salary to his family to pay outstanding debt but this could not even pay

the interest of the debt.

The entire group was living in the inhuman condition and was forced to eat

unhygienic, tasteless food, sometimes they had to eat outdated “Khaboos” (a type of

Bred) in their breakfast and lunch. He had to share his room with the 12 other

workers. He used to work 16 hours per day and seven days in a week. He spent one

and half years in this company and for the last four months of the period no payment

was made by the employers in spite of repeated requests from Hari and his friends.

Frustrated with the treatment meted to them, they told the employer they

would go to the labour court for settlement of their claim. On hearing this, the

employer called the policemen and the whole group got arrested. They were not

given any reason for their arrest. The group was jailed for a month and was told that


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they would be let out of jail only if they apologize for the theft they had committed

from their employer’s house. Only then they come to know that theft was the charge

levelled against them. Since they found that their protests were to no avail, they

wrote the apology as dictated to them by the police.

After releasing from the jail some of Hari’s friends returned back, but Hari

got success to escape and started working illegally because he had no alternative as

he had to pay the loan and had to arrange money for hissister’s’ marriage.

Depending upon the availability of work he used to work for 18 hours a day and

used to live in the in-human conditions to save more and more money. Sometimes

he used to share a room with twenty unknown persons. He had no time for his daily

needs he said sometimes he used to bathe after weeks.

He worked about eight month illegally; suddenly one day police arrested him from

his work site and sent him back to India. After returning on the suggestion of one of

his friends Hari wrote to the embassy in Oman, explaining the entire episode and

pleading for their intervention in the case. No response however came from the

embassy officials. Now Hari has no saving left, his one sister is married but two

sisters are still unmarried. He has reverted to his father's occupation from which he

had tried to escape. He is still unmarried

5.5 Inhuman Living Conditions of Irregular Workers

Irregular emigrant workers in the Gulf often are trapped in horrible living

and working conditions denied justice and their basic rights. This harms not only the

emigrants, but also the international image and prestige of the host countries (Shah,

2009). According to the fact sheet of the United Nations High Commissioner on

Human Rights (UNHCHR) “Without status, the illegal migrant is a natural target of

exploitation. He or she is at the mercy of employers and may be obliged to accept

any kind of job, and any working and living conditions. In the worst cases, the

situation of migrant workers is akin to slavery or forced labour. Illegal migrants

rarely seek justice for fear of exposure and expulsion, and in many States have no

right of appeal against administrative decisions which affect them” (Ibid). Even the

Indian embassy unlike the other which have special cell devoted to looking after the

welfare of low skill labour from their country, provides no resources to them, except

to promise to take up the matter with the local authorities, which it never does. In

this regards the position of Indian as indeed of most Asian countries vis-a vis the


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Gulf countries can well be appreciated if we keep in mind the asymmetrical

relationship between these labour-sending and labour-receiving countries (Jain,

2003). As Weiner (1982) put it: “Gulf governments have little fear that any of the

South Asian governments could do more than mildly protest mistreatment of

emigrants, nor would they be likely to suddenly withdraw migrants for political

reasons or attempt to use migrants to extend their influence. India is dependent upon

the Gulf for oil, exports, employment, remittances, contracts, and for the good will

that it seeks as a counterweight in its relations with Pakistan. The Indian

Government is thus willing to tolerate conditions for Indians in the Gulf that it

would not tolerate for its citizens elsewhere, and its intervention on their behalf are

likely to be in a subdued and less public fashion”.

5.6 Housing without Permanent Roof

It is almost impossible for a regular or irregular emigrants to buy property in

any of the Gulf countries. The regular workers are housed in the labour camps but it

is very difficult for the irregular workers to get a rented house or accommodation in

labour camps, due to widespread anti-foreigner sentiments and residency registration

regulations. Therefore, irregular emigrants rely on social networks to organize

housing for themselves. Some might use a friend’s reference or links to rent a house,

others crowded into an unofficially rented single room apartment with unlimited

immigrants. Respondents reported that the visa over stayers usually manages to find

an apartment while they are still legal and are in most cases never checked upon a

second time. Again others live unreported with relatives or friends who have legal

status and living in the camps. Respondents reported that sometimes cheap and dirty

housing is provided by the employer to the irregular emigrants. Generally all the

irregular workers are living in the rented houses in the corners of the city. In this

case, a proportion of the already low wage is kept to pay for housing cost. Some of

the irregular workers have to face tremendous problems in paying the rent, they have

to work hard more than their capacity to pay rent and other necessities. They live in

the overcrowded small rooms with more than 10 to 20 persons in a room using

single toilet which remain unclean for weeks. Generally the room of irregular

workers has no separate kitchen, no place for recreation, and privacy and no proper

ventilation. Respondents also reported that the irregular workers live in unhygienic

conditions they use poor quality, unclean and smelly bedding, blankets and pillows


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without washing for months in the summer. One of the respondents when narrating

the story of his worse condition said that when the electricity goes different types of

sweat smell starts coming from the room one cannot even breathe in this situation.

Most of the irregular workers suffer from the skin infections such as fungus, itching

etc. Some of the respondents reported that irregular workers who do not have rented

room and social network in the host country are living in the pipes away from the

city or live at the work sites without even a fan and they take a bath and wash their

cloths once in a week. They cook their food turn wise once in 24 hours. Due to a

high degree temperature which exceeds sometime 48 degrees Celsius, often the taste

of the cocked food changes. But they became habitual to eat this type of smelly,

tasteless and unhealthy food. The irregular respondents informed that they do not

live in the permanent place of residence due to the fear of police and immigration

department. They always frequently have to change their place of residence.

Nationals of the host countries and even the regular workers do not like them. The

regular workers always treat them as burden and keep distance from them. The

overall condition of the irregular workers in the Middle East is below the living

standard of human beings or worse than animals.

5.7 Inhuman Working Condition

The irregular workers in all the countries of the Middle East are forced to

work in the inhuman conditions. Though it is not officially sanctioned, most of the

irregular workers work more than 12 hours a day, 7 days a week without any

holiday. Although the governments do not allow the emigrant workers to work

outside when the temperature exceeds 44 degrees Celsius (112 degrees Fahrenheit)

but this rule does not apply on the irregular workers they always forced to work

outside even when the temperature exceeds 48 degrees Celsius. Beside the inhuman

working conditions they are always in fear of police because they would be

immediately deported to their countries if caught by the police or immigration

department. As stated by respondents, the police is frequently done raid in

suspicious areas (mostly bachelor areas, houses or accommodations, work sites) to

search for undocumented foreigners or irregular workers. Fear of detection keeps

irregular emigrant workers away from even legitimately available services. They are

not able to secure protection for themselves against hazards to their health and

safety, join unions or organize themselves for collective bargaining, obtain fair


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wages, ask for compensation in case of injury or illness, or have any employment

security.

Baljit Singh 29 year resident of village Kang of district SBS Nagar

(Nawanshahr), married and Chamar by caste was working as a carpenter before his

emigration. He was born in a joint family which comprised beside his parents, sister,

and brother, grandparents etc. His father was an unskilled worker who did several

types of works such as tilling land, helping meson and Seeri (Landless Agriculture

worker) in the farms of higher caste. He is middle class passed, after schooling he

was keen to migrate to the developed countries because some of his friends emigrate

to the UK and Australia. Their parents were farmers who sell their land for the

emigration of their children, but due to poverty and lack of finance he was unable to

do so. In 2006 one of his close friends migrates to the Kuwait which motivated him

to emigrate to the Gulf. He borrowed rupees 80 thousand from his brother in law

(Sister’s husband) with a promise to send him a visa, in return his brother in low

sold ornaments of his wife to raise the money.

Baljit entered in the Kuwait into a contract with an unlicensed recruiting

agent as a cycle mechanic. But he was sent to work on a construction site as a mason

helper with a very low salary equivalent to rupees 7000 per month as against rupees

15000 promised in the agreement. Even the salary was low and he was not paid the

regular instalments also. Baljit complained to the labour court, which ordered the

employer to make regular payment. The condition regarding the accommodation

facilities was also broken by the employer, he was accommodated in a dormitory in

which 65 persons were accommodated there were only seven toilets for 65 persons.

They used to cook their food themselves twice in 24 hours. He spent two years in the

company but in these two years neither he could save a single penny nor pay his

debt. But he did not come back he left his company and started working outside the

company without informing his employer. He used to earn good outside because

now he had not to pay for his accommodation and other unnecessary charged to the

company, he use to work day and night, and seven days in a week without any

break. But unfortunately after six months the Kuwait police arrested him for

breaking the bond and staying in the country illegally without the consent of his

employer and he was jailed.


142

After six months in jail, he was released and sent home by the government.

He had to pay for his return air ticket, for this he again borrowed money from his

friend. He returned back with no saving and with his visa debit still outstanding.

When his brother in law and other family member got wind of what happened they

could not tolerate his brother in law sent his wife to her parents for money that he

learned to Baljit or his emigration. Baljit is now working in private factory and

trying to pay his debt.

5.8 Public and Health Services

Health insurance and other services are not provided to the irregular workers

in any of the Middle East country. Even though theoretically employers are

obligated to pay social security payments but they do not do so, because through

these payments the irregular employment would be detected and punishment or fine

would be imposed on the employers. Some of the respondents reported that at some

construction sites workers who are injured on the job are not being paid

compensation or hospital bills. In case of illness they cannot even go for treatment to

a private doctor because the government has strictly instructed private doctors to

diagnose foreign workers after seeing his legal status in the forms of “Patakka”

(Identity card). So the Irregular emigrants again rely on their social networks and

consult either doctors who are acquaintances or borrow medicine from the family

and friends. Those who cannot rely on social networks often trying to ignore their

illnesses and frequently end up in emergency rooms. Some of the respondents who

were working illegally in the Middle East said that many time their family members

had sent them medicine from India. These examples should suffice to show that

irregular emigrants face a life without basic civil or human rights and they

developed various strategies to cope with this situation. Of upmost importance to

both the process of emigration itself as well as to the day-to-day life in Middle East

are social networks but sometime even these networks do not provide an

environment which allow irregular emigrants to stay permanently with them in their

camps.

5.9 Low Wage and Discrimination

There are no rules plying salary or wage to the irregular workers in any of

the Middle East countries. Generally irregular workers get high salaries than worker


143

working in the companies and having regular status. High wages are both the causes

and consequences of irregular emigration for Punjabis emigrants. But irregular

workers also face a number of problems regarding their wages. The local contractors

do not pay or delay their salaries. Labour courts are available for the regular workers

but due to illegal status these irregular workers cannot complaint to the labour courts

or seek help from the police. They always remain at the mercy of the employers.

5.10 Lack of Knowledge of Local Language

Arabic is official and public language in all the Middle East countries.

Irregular workers must have knowledge of Arabic language because without this

they cannot find jobs or communicate with the nationals. Even the knowledge of

local language is a prerequisite for success in any host country, because the language

provides tremendous opportunities to the emigrants for jobs and upward mobility.

According to Wittgenstein (1961) “The limits of my language mean the limit of my

world (cf. Judge, 2003a). Lack of knowledge of the language of host society also

makes the emigrants introvert in the sense that they look for security, friendship, and

interaction from within their own community (Ibid). Respondents reported that

knowledge of Arabic is must if an emigrant wants to work illegally in any of the

Middle East country because without proper knowledge of Arabic they become

dependent on those who know the Arabic for finding jobs and buying goods.

5.11 Kafala System: The Root Cause of All Problems

The private sector in all the GCC countries has been reserved for emigrant

workers who were brought to various countries in the Gulf under what was known

as the Kafala System. The majority of the workers emigrated to GCC countries

through Kafala System. It is a system whereby an emigrant is sponsored by an

employer who assumes full economic and legal responsibility for the employee

during the contract period. This system has been described as modern-day slavery,

leaves emigrant labourers vulnerable to human trafficking and forced labour

practices, and has resulted in gross human rights abuses. The system requires that

the emigrant only work for the sponsor and, in some cases, the sponsor will keep the

passport of the emigrant as assurance that the emigrant will not try to leave the

employer. According to the Kafala System, a foreigner was not allowed to work in

any GCC countries without local sponsorship (Kafil). Once the employment


144

relationship is broken, foreign workers become illegal residents, and must

immediately leave the country. Although the system has met with much criticism

over the years, there has been little incentive by the governments of the region to

change it (Colton, 2010).

Kafala System is popularly known among the Punjabi emigrants as

‘Thekedari System” or contract system. Almost all the respondents reported that this

system is the root cause of the bad condition of the irregular workers. Even regular

workers working under this system also suffer problems like low wage, delay in

salary, poor accommodation, poor quality of food etc. Low-paid workers in the Gulf

region were facing problems mainly because of the sponsorship regulations. Under

this system a worker becomes totally dependent upon this “Kafil” (sponsor)

therefore the sponsor takes advantage of their weakness and exploits the workers.

Generally sponsors breaks the terms of the contract by paying low salary as

promised in the contract. As a result it becomes difficult for a worker to survive and

repay the debt that he borrowed to meet the travel cost. So the worker leaves his job

and start working illegally outside the company without informing his ‘Kafil”. But

because the worker has left his the passport to the sponsor now he cannot go back to

his country. This is the main reason of growing irregular worker in the GCC states.

The authorities of these states are fully aware of the high number of irregular

workers and announce an amnesty every four to five years. Usually, within a period

of three months, the irregulars could turn themselves in to their embassy and get a

legal entry if they were not able to get back their passports (Shah, 2009). Without

these amnesties it would be impossible for the emigrants to ever leave the country,

since everybody that leaves the country needs an exit visa issued by the concerned

department of the host country. During the amnesty of 1987 in Kuwait, out of the

approximately 20,000 to 30,000 illegally residing emigrants, about 10,000 made use

of the legal exit possibility. In the UAE, in the year 1999, there were 8,663 irregular

emigrants arrested, with the majority of the people coming from Pakistan, followed

by Afghanistan, India, Iran and Bangladesh. The following year, the number of

irregulars arrested rose up to 10,766, again with Pakistan accounting for the majority

of the cases, about 78 per cent. Similarly the UAE as many of the other Gulf States

try to tackle the problem of irregular emigrants by launching amnesties. In 1996, a

four-month amnesty was ordered during which visa over stayers and absconders


145

could leave the country without any penalty. Most of the workers that left were from

Asian countries, such as the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan,

Afghanistan, and Iran, and they were employed on construction sites and in service

positions (Australia Visa, 1997). Shah (2009) has given country wise details of

amnesty returnees from the six GCC countries of the Middle East (Table 5.4) on the

basis of data compiled from the various newspapers of these countries.

Table 5.4

Amnesty Returnees from Six GCC Countries

Country Amnesty started Repatriation /Regularization

Bahrain 1995

32,365 in 1995 and 52,000 in 1997 either left

or regularized their papers; 23,632 in 2000; In

August-December 2008, 110,000 regularized

their status and 11,053 were deported

Kuwait November, 1997 11,502 left in December 1997; 15842

regularized and 4,458 repatriated in 1998;

9000 left in 2002

Oman January 1998 24,000 left in March-April 1998; 13,000 in

2001

Qatar November 1997 10,000 regularized or repatriated between

January-April 1998

Saudi Arabia 1995 2-2.3 million between October 1997-July

2000; about 700,00 deported per year

United Arab

Emirates

(UAE)

August 1996 200,000 left during August-December, 1996;

Another 300,000 expected to have left by

March 2003; 176,000 regularized and more

than 174,000 repatriated in 2007

Source: Shah (2009)

5.12 Criminalization of irregular workers

The respondents also reported that a large number of the irregular workers are

involved in the sale of illegal liquor to maximize their income. They do not have any

fear of police and law system because they are already illegal.


146

5.13 Regular Workers and problems faced by them in the Middle East

The people living in one part of the world basically moved to other parts for

their livelihood and India is no exception. India and Pakistan supplied most of such

unskilled labour, registering almost 200 per cent growth between 1970 and 1975. In

1975, Indian expatriates constituted 39.1 per cent, Pakistanis 58.1 per cent, and other

Asians 2.8 per cent of the total non–Arab expatriates in the Gulf. Since then, Indian

emigration has overtaken that of Pakistan and other Asian countries of origin.

Further, since the Kuwait war of 1990-91, Indians has replaced evens the non–

national Arabs in the Gulf, viz. the Jordanians, Yemenis, Palestinians and Egyptians.

From less than 258,000 in 1975, emigrant Indian population in the Gulf went up to

3.318 million in 2001, which is now estimated to have crossed 3.5 million (Khadria,

2006)

Although the illegal aspect of Punjabi Diaspora cannot be ignored because in

many of the developed countries, they use illegal or undocumented, fake sources for

their emigration in search of better opportunities. But emigration to the Middle East

countries is different from the rest. It is very difficult for a skilled, unskilled or

semiskilled worker to go illegally to the Middle East countries because all of them

are temporary emigrants who are supposed to return to India after expiry of their

contractual employment. Regular workers are of two types. First, who emigrated

under the Kafala system under the sponsorship of local company etc. Second, the

category of the workers emigrated under the “free visa system”. According to the

law of GCC states, every citizen of the Middle East countries is eligible to sponsor

up to three domestic workers. The citizens are required to pay a security deposit, an

annual fee of $1,300, “issuance of a free visa,” which requires a security deposit of

$1,500. The visa is valid for two years and has no minimum income limit. Citizens

are also required to earn a minimum of $1,640 per month (Youssef, 2007). This

system is popularly known as “Azad Visa” among the Punjabi emigrants.

The problems encountered by the emigrants may be examined at two levels,

First in relation to recruitment violation and second in relation to the working and

living conditions in the labour importing countries. Commonly reported recruiting

violations are delayed deployment or non deployment of workers, overcharging or

collecting fees in excess of authorized placement fees. Delayed deployments are


147

often caused by factors beyond the control of the recruitment agency such as when

the embassy delayed the assurance of Visa or when the employee's request the

postponement of worker’s departure for some reasons. Non deployment is however

a serious problem in which excessive fee is collected from the workers. What makes

overcharging serious problem is that the workers end up paying huge amount

equivalent to many months salary in exchange for the job that pay so little

(Sasikumar, 2003).

Some other major problems encountered by the regular emigrants in their

countries of employment include. Firstly, permanent termination from the jobs.

Second, changing the clauses for contract to the disadvantage of the workers. Third,

delay in payment of salary dues. Fourth, violation of minimum wage standards.

Fifth, forced over-time work without returns. Sixth, denial to keep once own

passport.

5.14 Termination from Jobs, Deportation and Ban

Due to the worldwide economic recession the demands of labour force in all

the Middle East countries are decreasing day by day. The bulk of labour in all the

Middle East countries became surplus and were trying to save their jobs. As a result

large numbers of the emigrants were expelled from their jobs. The trend of the low

demand of labour in all the Gulf countries is still going on. Numbers of causes are

responsible for this change. First, the major infrastructure projects requiring large

numbers of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled construction workers have been

almost completed. Secondly, large numbers of business collapses were reported.

There is less demand for buildings, flats and commercial complexes due to the

ongoing economic recession. Thirdly, policies such as Nationalization is banning of

visas for unskilled Asian workers and making employment of unskilled labour

expensive, are likely to result in the decline in demand for workers of unskilled and

semiskilled categories. As a result it is now difficult for the workers to save their

jobs.

On the other hand terminating a work contract for the emigrants is a difficult

task throughout the Middle East countries and changing the sponsor can be

complicated. While some sponsors let their workers go, some of them ask for money


148

to do that while others simply refuse. However, in many cases a worker is left with

half-a-year or one-year ban from entering the country. This is a situation that has

been proven to create irregular emigrants, as many whose employer refuses to let

them go, either abscond or return to their country and come back on forged

documents. Emigrants are taken to some Middle Eastern countries on one job

contract, but are put on different jobs on reaching the destination country. This

automatically annuls their contracts. Nonpayment and irregular payment of salary is

another common complaint if they oppose immediately they are shown the road of

their home.

Although labour courts and law system is available for the emigrants, but

respondents reported that they cannot seek help from the court because the cost of a

court case may have to be borne by the employee, which makes this instrument of

justice questionable. Many foreign workers simply do not have the financial means

to file a complaint. Furthermore, there is no protection of dismissal from work in

filing a complaint against the employer. According to respondents, therefore, an

employee who has problems with his employer is better off seeking for other

solutions if he could like to remain in the country.

5.15 Number of Working Hours and Overtime

For proper understanding the working conditions of the workers, attempts

have been made to know the maximum number of working hours in the host

country. The respondents reported that they used to work seven days per week, often

continuously for weeks or months without days off. Although the governments of

some Gulf countries have regulated the maximum working hours in a day but

companies always violate the rules. The labour laws call for a maximum of eight

working hours per day and up to 48 hours per week. The maximum for certain jobs

is nine and 54 hours, respectively, but not more than seven and 42 hours,

respectively, for jobs in petrol refineries, the cement/asbestos industry, and others.

It is found that the maximum working hours respondents reported ranged

from 8 to 14 hours (Table 5.5). Near about half the respondents used to work, on an

average, 12 hours per day with 8 hours duty and four hours overtime. A majority of

them 36.66 per cent worked 13 to 16 hours per days. The most common complaint

that respondents reported during fieldwork was that they did not get paid for


149

overtime work. Officially, there is provision of overtime in most labour receiving

countries, the rate of which is 1.5 times the normal pay during working days and two

times during the weekends. However, most employers do not respect this provision.

Sometimes they are also not paid for their overtime.

Table 5.5

Maximum Number of Working Hours

Working

hours

S.B.S

Nagar

Jalandhar Kapurthala Hoshiarpur Total

8-12 35 (46.66) 31 (41.33) 28 (37.33) 36 (48) 130 (43.33)

13-16 26 (34.66) 22 (29.33) 33 (44) 29 (38.66) 110 (36.66)

17 - 20 07 (9.33) 14 (18.66) 08 (10.66) 06 (8) 35 (11.66)

21-24 06 (8) 05 (6.66) 02 (2.66) 03 (4) 16 (5.33)

Above 24

hours

01 (1.33) 03 (4) 04 (5.33) 01 (1.33) 09 (3)

Total 75 (100) 75 (100) 75 (100) 75 (100) 300 (100)

Figures in parentheses are column wise percentages

5.16 Congested Housing for the Emigrant Workers

Living and working conditions of emigrant workers vary from country to

country and depend on the nature of the job in the Gulf countries. Professionals are

provided with reasonably good accommodation, health care facilities, and working

conditions. But the working and living conditions of the majority of the semi-skilled

and unskilled workers are extremely poor. The accommodation for construction

workers is commonly referred to as labour camps. While for workers in other

professions it is referred to as staff accommodation. Large companies and the

formal sector provide accommodation to their employees in the labour camps at the

outskirts of the city. A section of the workers is also accommodated within the

factory premises. However, sometimes construction workers do not get such

facilities. They rent their own accommodation and live with other emigrants (rarely

happens). In a typical situation, a large group of people is accommodated in a small

room, with little or no privacy. Some respondents said their labour camps often bear


150

a resemblance to prisons. They also informed that it is not uncommon that up to ten

men or more persons share one small room. Furthermore, some construction

companies that work in three shifts around the clock let their workers share the same

bed with two other shift workers. In some cases the labour accommodations even

lack air conditioning. In general, the quality of staff accommodation varies. Usually,

there would be a small toilet in a second room and sometimes also a small kitchen.

In those camps, workers typically live six-to-eight individuals per room, although

these numbers vary significantly. Many states in the Gulf have promulgated

regulations to limit the number of workers per room, but respondents informed that

it seems these regulations are widely ineffective or ignored by the private

companies.

According to Sambidge (2009), in UAE about 75 per cent of the labour

camps are to be below government standards. Inspections in 2008 found that 70 per

cent of worker accommodations violated hygiene and safety rules. Paying fines

(about $545 for the third violation) for allowing sewage to remain in the open is

cheaper than removal and repair. Generally these camps have inadequate sewage

and ventilation, substandard drinking water, sleeping facilities and unsanitary food

preparation areas are common in these camps.

Similarly Gardner (2011) also pointed out that many emigrants face less

desirable conditions. Camps may consist of decrepit buildings, ad hoc structures, or

aging villas in older suburban neighbourhoods. Men often live eight or more in a

room. Many of these camps have itinerant supplies of electricity or water.

The number of persons per room ranges from one to more than twenty

(Figure 5.1). A majority of the respondents 39.66 per cent were living in a room

having six to ten persons in a room. Interestingly 73.31 per cent of the respondents

were sharing rooms with more than five persons. In another 8.33 per cent the

average number of persons per room is as high as eleven to fifteen. The employers

meet the rent for the accommodation of workers in worker camps and charges have

been deducted from the salaries of the employee.

9

(3%)

4

(1.33%)

(6.33 %

)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

One

Two

Number of Respondents

Number of Workers Living In a Room

Problems and Challenges Faced by t

151

Figure 5.1

19

(6.33 %

)

48

(16 %

)

53

(17.66 %

)

119

(39.66 %

)

25

(8.33%)

Three

Four

Five

Six to Ten

Eleven to

Fifteen

Number of Persons in a Room

Number of Workers Living In a Room


the Emigrant Workers in the Middle East

25

(8.33%)

12

(4 %

)

11

(3.66%)

Eleven to

Fifteen

Sixteen to

Twenty

Above

Twenty

and Challenges Faced by the Emigrant Workers in the Middle East


152

Table 5.6 provides the information about the size of the rooms where

respondents used to reside. The average size of the respondent’s room was 10x8 to

10 x 16 fets. 62.32 per cent of the respondents were residing in these rooms.

Table 5.6

Size of Respondent’s Room at Abroad

Size of room in

fets

S.B.S

Nagar


10x8 07 (9.33) 08 (10.66) 01 (1.33) 11 (14.66) 27 (9)

10x10 20 (20.66) 03 (4) 20 (26.66) 21 (28) 64 (21.33)

10x12 13 (17.33) 30 (40) 13 (17.33) 03 (4) 59 (19.66)

10x14 09 (12) 15 (20) 10 (13.33) 03 (4) 37 (12.33)

10x16 05 (6.66) 00 (00) 01 (1.33) 12 (16) 18 (6)

10 x18 00 (00) 04 (5.33) 08 (10.66) 00 (00) 12 (4)

10x20 00 (00) 01 (1.33) 01 (1.33) 12 (16) 14 (4.66)

10x22 00 (00) 00 (00) 00 (00) 02 (2.66) 02 (0.66)

10x30 00 (00) 00 (1.33) 00 (00) 01 (1.33) 01 (0.33)

12x12 07 (9.33) 07 (9.33) 16 (21.33) 03 (4) 33 (11)

13x13 00 (00) 01 (1.33) 01 (1.33) 01 (1.33) 03 (1)

Above 13x 13 11 (14.66) 04 (5.33) 04 (5.33) 03 (4) 22 (7.33)

Tent

Accommodation

03 (4) 02 (2.66) 00 (00) 03 (4) 08 (2.66)

Total 75 (100) 75 (100) 75 (100) 75 (100) 300 (100)


5.17 Re-signing of Contracts in the Host Country

A relatively new phenomenon in Middle East emigration is the re-signing of

contracts upon arrival. During the fieldwork, emigrants shared this experience as

happening in two ways. First, a new contract could be prepared for signature soon

after arrival in the destination country. This new contract would have clear terms

and conditions which are explained to the emigrant worker. Alternatively, a new

contract could be signed at the time the first salary is paid; the contract and several

other documents are prepared for signature, but emigrants are mostly unaware of

what they are signing, and the salary stipulated is usually 10 per cent to 15 per cent


153

lower than in the original contract signed in Punjab before emigration. Second,

medical tests on arrival and a re-assessment of skills levels were also becoming

common, with the results of either assessment sometimes used to justify a reduction

of wages. The practices of contract substitution and a repetition of the medical

examination once abroad cannot be considered fair. The new contracts are usually

prepared in Arabic or English language, as mentioned in the second chapter majority

of the respondents are illiterate or semi literate therefore they cannot understand

what has been written in the contract.

5.18 Denial to Keep Once Own Passport

Even though the law does not allow the employers to collect the passport of

the employees, but it is a common practice throughout the Middle East countries to

do that. The common discourse behind is that it serves as a protection against

workers who want to run away from the company and look for another work.

However, employers who breached the law did not get punished for that. The

governments of the Middle East countries have launched an initiative to fine

employers who held the workers' passports. Several major construction firms are

known to have an unwritten policy of not hiring workers who refuse to give up their

passports, and in some documented cases even make money by charging fees to

return passports (Shah, 2009). Taking of passports and keeping workers pay in

arrears are two widespread methods employers use to control workers. This practice

is the main cause of forced labour in which the worker cannot change his job, if the

employees exploit him. Zachariah, Prakash, and Rajan (2002) also found that

custody of passport by the employer is a serious problem faced by the emigrants in

the U.A.E. By this practice the employer gains absolute control over all movements

of the emigrants in his employ. They further say that in many cases, the employer

refuses to release the passport to the emigrant workers on the ground of minor

labour problems or disputes regarding payment of wages. Generally all categories of

worker who were denied the return of their passports belong to all the sectors of

economic activity: construction, production, transport and services, causing

considerable hardship to the emigrants (ibid).


154

5.19 Poor Working Conditions

In order to study details of working conditions of Punjabi emigrants, the

respondents are being asked about their living conditions, the facilities and

perquisites that they enjoyed, the emigration prospects. In their study Zachariah,

Prakash, and Rajan (2002) found that the workers who have proper visas and work

contracts specifying the working conditions, do not face serious problems and

workers who emigrate without proper visas for work and work contracts face severe

problems. But in the present study respondents reported that the working conditions

of the regular workers are not much different from the working conditions of the

irregular workers. The construction boom in all the GCC states requires and is

driven by emigrant workers and low labour costs. Heat, exhaustion, and inadequate

safety requirements pose serious health and safety problems for labourers, who are

subject to substandard and often inhumane work and living conditions and

systematic violation of basic human rights. The jobs that may be considered dirty,

dangerous and demanding (3D jobs) are considered fit only for non-nationals and

spurned by nationals (Shah, 2009). Emigrants are often forced to work longer hours

than those indicated in the contract they signed in the sending country, and many

reported not receiving additional wages for these additional (overtime) hours

(Gardner, 2011).

5.20 Lack of Upward Job Mobility

The countries of the GCC are characterized by the duality of a primary and

secondary labour market, there are often no or only limited possibilities for upward

mobility in the secondary labour market. Emigrant workers often end up in the

secondary labour market which essentially influences their options for promotion. In

the Middle East, as mentioned above, foreigners occupy the jobs in the private sector

and can be found in every sector of it. This fact has interesting consequences when

taking into account the highly employed social hierarchy in the country. In general,

it can be said that the Arabs and Europeans have already been in higher positions

they can move vertically. But the condition of the foreign workers would be same.

Among the respondent of this study very few of them had got promotion during their

emigration.


155

5.21 Sick Leave and Medical Facilities

Health facilities provided to the workers again vary from country to country.

In Saudi Arabia the necessary primary health care services are available in major

cities, under a Government policy called ‘Health for All’. Everyone, irrespective of

the legal status, can access this service. In the UAE and Bahrain also, emigrants can

go to general hospitals. However, the cost of medicine and tests has to be borne by

the emigrants themselves. In some cases, companies/factories have their own

authorized doctors. In the UAE workers who are formally employed have to undergo

annual medical checkups. If someone is sick, the employer bears the cost of medical

service, when recommended by the supervisor. Some tests like HIV/AIDS and

hepatitis A, B are compulsory for the workers. If the worker is detected positive, the

employers do not take any responsibility and they are deported home immediately

(Siddiqui, 2004).

But some companies breach the law by not providing medical treatment to its

employees. Respondents reported that they themselves had to pay for their

treatments in case of illness. Furthermore, the company refuses to pay for their

repatriation costs, as was stipulated in their contracts. There are several cases when

labour health provisions have been violated, and where there is no indication of a

means through which justice can be obtained. Table 5.7 shows that the majority of

the respondents 74 per cent of the respondents had no health insurance in the

Middle East. Even those who were covered under the health insurance reported that

generally hospitals use poor quality of medicine for the emigrant labour. Labourers

often suffer accidents, such as getting pieces of cement and steel chips in the eyes,

sustaining hand injuries from grinders or power tools, and falls. At the time of

fieldwork some workers told me that, medical care for heat stroke, fever, and

workplace injuries (for example, a welder whose leg was injured by a grinding

machine) consisted of male nurses handing out ‘Panadol” a generic painkiller.

Therefore they often used to ask their families to send medicine from India through

courier or registered post because medicine in the Gulf are expensive than India. The

respondents also reported that only the most serious injuries receive medical care,

the employer pays for transportation to the hospital and for medical expenses, which

labourers must repay upon recovery thereby increasing their debt. Both local and

foreign contractors have been resistant to safety laws that protect construction


156

workers; in fact, accidents and injuries are often attributed to workers inexperience

and language problems, or mistake. In this case the worker cannot claim benefits of

the health insurance. Emigrants were generally not happy about the procedure

followed after the death of an emigrant, when a fellow countryman died abroad, the

body was repatriated to India because of the cost involved, and they reported delays

in sending corpses home for cremation were very common. According to Jain (2003)

the death of emigrants presents particular problems for families and surviving

Indians working in the Gulf countries. The biggest problem of course is bringing

home the bodies for funeral rites. In 1996, for example, 2,877 Indians had died in the

Gulf countries, including 1,461 in Saudi Arabia and 785 in the UAE. In Saudi

Arabia cremation is not permitted for the non-Muslims. In this regard elsewhere

only meagre facilities are available. The dead bodies cannot be claimed until the

responsibility of death (in the case of an unnatural one) has been fixed and the wages

and death compensation due to the deceased have been paid to the next of kin. The

whole procedure usually takes one to two months, and in complicated cases even

longer.

Charn Dass, 37 years old Bazigar by caste, from village Kitna, Hoshiarpur

district; born in a poor family he is fourth among the six children. They had their

ancestral land in the village but they had to sell this land to meet the expenses of

marriage of two sisters of respondent. His father was a daily wage earner. Suddenly

his father fall ill and large amounts of money had to be spent on his medical

treatment. The family sank deep into indebtedness even for their daily needs they

had to borrow from their relatives. He planned to migrate to the Middle East because

he had no alternative come out of the debt. He borrowed 50000 rupees from a

money lender. And with the help of one of his friends he got successful in getting

visa in 1999 and emigrated to Bahrain.

Soon after reaching Bahrain he got the job as an attached labourer in a local

construction company. He was given a salary equivalent to 7000 per month. He was

staying in a small camp where he had to pay for his food, rent of the shared room,

etc. He used to work for 7 days a week and 14 to 16 hours per day. His father died in

2004 but he could not come on his death ceremony. Suddenly one day he fell down

unconscious while at work. He was hospitalised in Bahrain for two months. His

company refused to pay for his medical treatment. His friends arranged money for


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paying the hospital bills. After his release from the hospital, he was advised to rest

completely for a period of five years. He was thus compelled by the company to

return home without any compensation. Charn Dass did not disclose the nature of

disease, but merely said it was due to the extreme heat in the Bahrain.

Table 5.7

Any Health Policy Insurance in the Middle East


5.22 Poor Quality of Food

The living conditions of the respondents are also reflected through the food

that they consume in the host country. In the study mess facility was provided to the

45 per cent of respondents who were living in the labour camps. Large numbers of

them 54.33 per cent cooked their food themselves (Table 5.8). The quality of mess

food was very poor as the worker reported, 3 days in a week they had to eat outdated

“Khaboos” a type of bread with poor quality of “Dal” (pulses). In the camp

generally food for the hundreds of workers had been cooked in the mess so it was

difficult for the contractor of messes to maintain the quality of food. These messes

are run by the south Indian contractors and cooks and generally they cook south

Indian food better than Punjabi foods. But on the other hand in camps, Punjabi

workers are who are second in numbers forced to eat food cooked by the south

Indian cooks who did not know Punjabi food recipes, as a result the taste of food

changes. Some of the respondents reported that the mess contractors use to use

outdated and poor quality of material in the mess. The workers had to eat stale food

they used to eat breakfast and lunch cooked in the last night and dinner cooked in

the noon. They had to eat food which has been always outdated, tasteless,

unhygienic, and smelly due to high temperature. The respondents also complained

Health

insurance by

the company

S.B.S

Nagar


Yes 17 (22.66) 12 (16) 26 (34.66) 23 (30.66) 78 (26)

No 58 (77.33) 63 (84) 49 (65.33) 52 (69.33) 222 (74)

Total 75 (100) 75 (100) 75 (100) 75 (100) 300 (100)


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that they had to eat south Indian food four days in a week because of two reasons.

First, in the camps, south Indian workers were dominating numerically. Secondly,

the mess contractors also did partiality with the Punjabis and prefer to cook south

Indian foods for the people from their regions. On the other hand who themselves

(54.33 per cent) used to cook their food were satisfied with the quality of food. Only

those workers are getting problems regarding food who was provided food by the

companies.

Table 5.8

How the Respondents Arrange Their Food

Source of Food S.B.S

Nagar


Cook

themselves

39 (52) 47 (62.66) 39 (52) 38 (50.66) 163 (54.33)

Mess facility by

the company

34 (45.33) 28 (37.33) 36 (48) 37 (49.33) 135 (45)

Hotel/ Dhaba 02 (2.66) 00 (00) 00 (00) 00 (00) 02 (0.66)

Total 75 (100) 75 (100) 75 (100) 75 (100) 300 (100)


Table 5.9

Quality of Food

Quality S.B.S Nagar Jalandhar Kapurthala Hoshiarpur Total

Good 39 (52) 47 (47.66) 39 (52) 38 (50.66) 163 (54.33)

Bad 36 (48) 28 (37.33) 36 (48) 37 (49.33) 137 (45.66)

Total 75 (100) 75 (100) 75 (100) 75 (100) 300 (100)


5.23 Preference to Change the Country of Emigration

The poor conditions of the workers are depicted from their preference to

Change the Country of Emigration. The majority of the respondents (61.33 per cent)

were reported that they were working in the Gulf under compulsion and due to their

inability to change the country if they get the opportunity they will definitely change


159

their country of emigration and move to the developed countries. Further 76. 33 per

cent of the respondents strictly reported that they do not want to send their children

for employment to the Gulf country. They are in favour of emigration but not in

favour of Gulf emigration. A number of causes are responsible for this first, majority

of the returned immigrants have very bad experiences in the Gulf such as low wage,

poor working and poor living condition, discrimination by the government and

natives, etc. All of these factors have constructed a negative image of the host

societies in the minds of respondents therefore they do not want to send their

children in these countries as workers.

Table 5.10

Distribution of respondents as per preference regarding the Country of

Emigration

Preference Want to Change their Country

of Emigration

Preference to send their

Children to the Middle East

Yes 184 (61.33) 71 (23.66)

No 116 (38.66) 229 (76.33)

Total 300 (100) 300 (100)


In a nutshell, emigrant workers have made significant contributions to both

their own countries as well as the labour-receiving countries, at enormous cost to the

life, health and well being of themselves and their families. The condition of

irregular workers is worse than regular emigrants. They are very vulnerable in the

Middle East. Almost a majority of them work in the construction industry. These

irregular emigrants have no access to any legal right and therefore no avenues for

insisting on basic worker’s rights. They are treated as little more than machines,

separated from their families and uprooted from the support system of the

community. The jobs that they are performing are dirty, dangerous and degrading

and they suffer from physical, mental and psychological problems. They are

vulnerable to various forms of discrimination, such as low wages, racism and

harassment etc. Many of these irregular emigrants are indebted to the money lenders

in the home country, due to this they are forced to work for starvation wages in order

to pay off the debit which they borrowed at the time of their emigration to pay the


160

cost of their transportation. Unfortunately, exploitation exists even when a worker

has emigrated properly, through the approved channels of the host government.

Sometimes the emigrant workers were placed in jobs that were not agreed. The

companies changes the employment contract signed and accepted by the emigrant

in the home country . Sometimes the emigrant workers are not in fact provided with

any employment at all by sponsoring companies, but are required to find

employment and then pay a percentage of their salary to the sponsor company.

Many recruitment agencies (Popularly known as supply companies among the

Punjabis) charge well above the prescribed fees. Workers encounter unfair wages

and terms; early dismissal by the foreign companies and inadequate conditions of

housing and other benefits in comparison to agreed terms in the home country.

Almost all the respondents reported that the problems of low wages, poor terms and

conditions, and particularly lack of appropriate housing and medical facilities

existed for emigrant workers in the Middle East. Their families left behind also face

problems because when young workers, especially men, emigrate from their homes

for long periods of time, this has also resulted in inadequate care and support of their

family. Many elderly people suffer, and women and children are left without male

support.

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